Patrick Bamford has scored 19 goals this season for MiddlesbroughGetty Images

Gareth Southgate has confirmed his final England 23-man squad for the Under-21 European Championships after he excluded Chelsea starlet Patrick Bamford, Tottenham defender Eric Dier, Wolverhampton's Benik Afobe and Cauley Woodrow of Fulham from the provisional squad he named last month.

The squad are going to train at St George's Park over the next two weeks before flying out to its Czech Republic base on Sunday 14 June ahead of its Euro Group B opener against Portugal four days later.

Southgate named his final squad on Tuesday (2 June) after cutting down four of the stars from the initial 27-man squad, including the Championship Player Of The Season Bamford.

The manager has claimed that he has been forced to leave the Chelsea starlet out of the squad because he has been struggling with injuries during the last part of the campaign at Middlesbrough.

"It's been hard, but a couple of the guys always knew that they were already standby players. It's a shame for Patrick, because he's been injured and that's why he misses out," Southgate explained.

"We were conscious that towards the end of the season he wasn't really fit to train with Middlesbrough, so he needs that period to get himself right now."

Meanwhile, the manager has also decided to exclude Tottenham's Eric Dier because of the huge competition for the back-line places.

"Eric was a difficult one. That's because we've got five very good centre-backs in that initial squad. Eric was last involved in the play-off game in Croatia and part of my thinking was that out of those five, Eric can be part of the U21s squad again next season," he said.

"For the others, it's their last opportunity so I'm very much looking at Eric as being one of our leaders next campaign and really taking ownership of the position on the field."

Wolves striker Afobe was named in one of Southgate's squads for the first time last month, after a goal-laden campaign that saw him net 32 goals.

Meanwhile, speaking about Afobe, he added: "We felt we wanted to acknowledge the season that he's had and it's the same with Callum Wilson, who also wasn't fit for the original squad."

"Benik had been in the England system at younger age groups and had a really good season last year and if we had any problems then I wouldn't hesitate to call him in.

"He's been really enthusiastic about potential involvement and I've been very impressed. But it's always a difficult conversation to have because you'd like to give everybody the opportunity, but you're not able to do that."